home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Software Vault: The Gold Collection
/
Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO
/
cdr30
/
vmoire16.zip
/
VGAMOIRE.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-05-01
|
60KB
|
1,267 lines
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
VGAMOIRE v1.6i
by Christopher Antos
Copyright (C) 1990 by Christopher Antos
April 1991
moi│re (mwär, môr) n. [Fr, watered silk < MOHAIR] a
fabric, esp. silk, rayon, or acetate, having a
watered, or wavy, pattern.
_ _
moi│ré (mwär ra', mô-; môr'a) adj. [Fr, pp. of /moirer/,
to water < /moire/: see prec.] having a watered, or
wavy, pattern, as certain fabrics, stamps, or metal
surfaces --n. 1 a watered pattern pressed into
cloth, etc. with engraved rollers 2 MOIRE
─── From Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College
Edition, Copyright (C) 1988 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Questions or Comments?
Please write to: Christopher Antos
2115 Windsor Drive
Ann Arbor, Michigan
48103-5652
Or send EMail to "Christopher_Antos@ub.cc.umich.edu"
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Please write and make suggestions, complaints, compliments, or
even ask questions. Thank you!
─────── CONTENTS ───────────────────────────────────────────────
Registering VGAMoire
Release Notes
Introduction
Installation
Using VGAMoire's Features
Deinstallation
Examples
Known Conflicts
Special Notes for Microsoft Windows
Troubleshooting
Version History Summary
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
New information is denoted with vertical bars ("|") in the left
margin.
═══════ REGISTERING VGAMOIRE ═══════════════════════════════════
This program is not free, nor is it in the Public Domain. It is
a ShareWare program. This means that you can try it out for a
reasonable length of time. If it useful to you, or you like it,
you need to register it. To do this, print out the file
REGISTER.TXT and follow the instructions within it.
BE SURE TO READ THE REGISTER.TXT FILE TO FIND OUT HOW
REGISTERING WILL BENEFIT YOU AND WHAT YOU WILL RECEIVE!
VGAMoire is a very high quality screen saver. If you can find a
better one for a lower price, I'd like to know (seriously!). It
has features the commercial competition can't even claim to
match. I put a lot of time and energy into this product, and I
believe anyone with a VGA graphics adapter cannot help but
benefit from using VGAMoire.
So, please fill out the registration form (in REGISTER.TXT) and
register today! You will be notified of any future releases
when they are made available.
═══════ RELEASE NOTES ══════════════════════════════════════════
If this is the first time you've ever read the VGAMoire
documentation, skip to the section entitled "INTRODUCTION."
VGAMoire has been slightly reworked to facilitate future support
for other video cards. I make no guarantees concerning multiple
video cards, but I will be looking into the possibility.
| The [Bn], [Dn], [Fn], [Mn], [Rn], and [Vn] options have been
| slightly changed. They take different values now.
|
| The number of font blocks to save and the number of video pages
| to save may be changed even after VGAMoire is installed,
| provided you are using Expanded Memory.
For those who don't like the Ctrl-Alt-Shift hotkey (or for those
for whom it causes a conflict), we've added a really great new
feature. You can now configure VGAMoire to use almost any
hotkey combination you want to--and you can change the
combination even after VGAMoire is already installed in memory!
| Take a look at the new [Kc] option, below. A bug which
| prevented a custom hotkey from working if anything besides Ctrl,
| Shift, and Alt were used has been fixed.
If you are using DOS 4.0, see the section "Known Conflicts".
VGAMoire is now DESQview compatible! See the section "Known
Conflicts" for information on configuring VGAMoire to work with
DESQview (if not configured correctly, VGAMoire will cause
DESQview to malfunction and, eventually, to lock up).
The graphics screen blanking introduced in version 1.4b
accidentally scrambled the values in two of the CPU registers,
which caused the machine to crash sometimes when VGAMoire
restored the graphics screen. This has been fixed. A related
bug was preventing VGAMoire from working correctly with
Microsoft Word. This bug has been fixed and VGAMoire works as
it should.
If you have a third-party (non-IBM) SuperVGA adapter, please
see the "Known Conflicts" section for information on a possible
problem.
The system monitor routines in version 1.5 are much improved
over v1.4, and provide much greater stability. VGAMoire will
not pop up unless it is completely safe to (but be careful when
playing video games!--see the section entitled "Known Conflicts"
for more information). VGAMoire also switches to its own stack
when it pops up, to avoid corrupting the DOS internal stacks.
This has fixed some "mysterious" crash bugs.
The Ctrl-Alt-Shift hotkey now works even if VGAMoire has been
turned off via the [-] option or the Ctrl-Alt-E hotkey. This is
allowed so that VGAMoire may be manually popped up even if it
has been turned off because its "safety detection" routines do
not work reliably with a particular program.
The [-] and [+] options now maintain a counter (as opposed to a
simple on/off flag as before), so they may be successfully
nested within batch files.
The [Mn] option was behaving opposite of how it was documented.
It now behaves as it is documented.
A "diagonal mirroring" feature has been added. Use the [R4]
option to enable it.
VGAMoire can now make the screen fade to black before drawing
the design or when blanking the screen. The current application
can continue processing even while the screen is fading out.
| The screen also fades in, now. See the [On] option for more
| information.
Two bugs that caused systems crashes have been exterminated:
(1) the screen blanking feature was not correctly restoring the
screen, and could cause a system crash or program malfunction;
(2) in rare cases, if VGAMoire were popped up at the wrong
moment (for example, in the middle of a DIR command), it could
corrupt the internal DOS I/O stack, causing a system crash.
| VGAMoire can now monitor the COM ports directly for activity!
| If the Carrier Detect signal (for telecommunications) is
| present, VGAMoire will only blank the screen (allowing the
| telecommunications program to keep processing in the
| background). If the Carrier is lost (or is just acquired), then
| VGAMoire will restore the screen. In addition, VGAMoire will
| flash the border color when the phone rings (provided you have a
| modem attached to your computer and the phone line)! I find
| this quite useful, because sometimes I wear headphones and can't
| hear the phone ring. You can also specify which COM ports to
| monitor.
═══════ INTRODUCTION ═══════════════════════════════════════════
You've probably seen a lot of other screen savers, and you're
probably not very impressed. Many are boring and just blank out
the screen--which can even be annoying, because sometimes it's
hard to tell if the machine or the monitor are even on! Other
screen savers may save the display in memory and draw a moving
design until a key is pressed. I have yet to see any other
screen saver that saves the FULL display configuration and
restores it. Other popular screen savers have a number of tiny
but very annoying flaws (eg, they might not save the cursor
shape, maybe they don't hide the mouse pointer or save the mouse
driver state, perhaps they can't use EMS, they may only save up
to four video pages, they probably can't restore the screen
properly unless it is in 25-line text mode, etc...)
I decided it was time to write a screen saver that restored the
screen COMPLETELY. Enter VGAMoire. The moire pattern design
was inspired by Magic! (for Microsoft Windows) and Moire (for
the Macintosh), two other well-known screen savers.
VGAMoire respects data transfer on the COM and LPT ports; can
use EMS memory, if available; allows options to be changed while
it is resident; can wait up to 30 minutes before popping up its
design; can monitor the video interrupt and/or the mouse
hardware (it can be configured not to, though) and restart its
countdown when activity is detected (though of course direct
video access cannot be detected); can be disabled and reenabled
from the keyboard or from batch files; can be popped up
manually; can run without becoming resident (intended to allow
the user to test the different configuration options without
having to deinstall VGAMoire between tests); recognizes that it
has already been loaded and will not reload itself, even if it
was loaded into high RAM via a utility such as 386Max or
QEMM-386; allows certain attributes of the pattern to be
modified by the user; respects disk I/O requests and restarts
its countdown when a disk I/O request is detected.
VGAMoire can mirror the design either horizontally, vertically,
or both ways (or, of course, not at all). See the [Rn] option,
below.
VGAMoire can restart its countdown when mouse movement or mouse
button activity is detected. In case you are using an old mouse
driver and you are experiencing problems, you can try disabling
this feature (see the [Mn] option in the "Using VGAMoire's
Features" section).
VGAMoire will not pop up when it would be harmful to the system
to do so. VGAMoire may, however, pop up while some print
spoolers are sending data to the printer. This should not ever
prove to be a problem (if it does, be sure to let me know!).
The only real effect of this should be that the printing is
suspended for as long as VGAMoire is drawing on the screen.
Printing should resume after VGAMoire stops. If it does prove
to be a problem, you might try setting it so it just blanks the
screen (which will allow the print spooler to continue
processing in the background).
See the section "Special Notes for Microsoft Windows," which
contains important information pertaining to a conflict between
VGAMoire and Microsoft Windows. Other conflicts are described
| in the "Known Conflicts" section. The "Troubleshooting" section
| discusses what to do to try to help VGAMoire coexist with other
| programs when something is going wrong.
═══════ INSTALLATION ═══════════════════════════════════════════
You can install VGAMoire from the DOS prompt, or from your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. There are some programs which VGAMoire is
known to conflict with, but in most cases, there are simple ways
to get around such problems (see the section entitled "Known
Conflicts" for more information).
Once VGAMoire is installed, you can pop up the screen saver
manually by pressing the hotkey (the default is Ctrl-Alt-Shift),
or you can let the machine idle for the specified amount of time
and let the screen saver automatically pop up. You can press
Ctrl-Alt-E to disable the screen saver (though you can still
manually pop it up). Pressing Ctrl-Alt-B will reenable the
screen saver. (These command keys work indepedently from and
override the [+] and [-] options, which will be discussed
later).
NOTE: some SuperVGA cards have extended text modes (eg. 100,
120, 132 columns as opposed to just 80). Some cards are not
fully IBM compatible in these extended text modes, so for
compatibility's sake, VGAMoire only blanks the screen in these
modes (just as it does in graphics modes).
VGAMoire will not become resident unless you specify how many
minutes it should wait before popping up. This allows you to
try out different options without actually installing VGAMoire.
VGAMoire also checks to see whether it has already been
installed. If it has, it will display an error message and will
not load a second copy into memory. This prevents you from
accidentally wasting memory.
To install VGAMoire (without specifying any options), type:
VGAMOIRE W<n>
where <n> is the number of minutes to count down before popping
up. If you do not use the [Wn] option, VGAMoire will generate
its moire design until you press a key or move the mouse. It
will not install itself in memory, though.
VGAMoire will pop up after the computer has sat idling for the
specified number of minutes. You can force it to pop up on
demand by pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Shift keys together (you
only need to use one Shift key, and it can be either one). This
Ctrl-Alt-Shift hotkey works regardless of whether VGAMoire has
been turned off or not. This feature exists so that you can
still manually pop up the screen saver if you have disabled
VGAMoire (presumably because its "safety detection" methods do
not work reliably in conjunction with a particular application).
You can also instruct VGAMoire to use a different hotkey than
the Ctrl-Alt-Shift combination. See the [Kc] option for more
information on using your own hotkey.
NOTE: VGAMoire should not be loaded above any application programs.
In other words, the computer may have a heart attack if you load
VGAMoire (or any memory-resident utility, for that matter) from
a DOS shell.
MEMORY USAGE ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
VGAMoire can use different kinds of memory in different ways.
When you install VGAMoire, it will take 4.7k of conventional
memory, where the main screen saver code resides, plus an amount
of memory which depends upon which installation options are
given.
If EMS memory is NOT used (ie, if only conventional memory is
utilized), then VGAMoire will take an extra 1k (approximately)
to store the video state and mouse state information. Each
video page you want to save takes another 4k.
If, on the other hand, EMS memory is used, then VGAMoire takes
only 4.7k of conventional memory. Its data is stored in
Expanded Memory. Depending upon how you configure VGAMoire, it
may reserve as much as 112k of EMS memory for its use. 16k
accomodates up to 3 video pages, 32k accomodates up to 7 video
pages, 48k will accomodate 8 video pages. For every two blocks
of character generator RAM that are saved, add another 16k of
EMS memory; so to save 1 or 2 blocks, add 16k; for 7 or 8 add
64k. So, to save 3 video pages and 1 font block, VGAMoire will
require 32k of Expanded Memory.
If VGAMoire is installed using the [B1] and [O0] options
together, it takes only 3.9k of conventional memory; however,
VGAMoire must be deinstalled and reinstalled if you later want
VGAMoire to draw the moire design or fade out smoothly (this
mode saves memory at installation time but is not as flexible as
if VGAMoire is installed without using both the [B1] and [O0]
options). So, if you want to install VGAMoire so it is able to
draw the moire design, but want it to start out just blanking
the screen, you will have to first install it with the [B0]
option and then send the [N] and [B1] options together.
═══════ USING VGAMOIRE'S FEATURES ══════════════════════════════
To see a list of the command line options that VGAMoire accepts,
you can type:
VGAMOIRE ?
at the DOS prompt. The list will look like this:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ VGAMoire 1.6i, by Christopher Antos, April 1991, (C)1990-1991 │
│ │
│ Syntax: VGAMOIRE [ options ] │
│ Options must be separated by spaces, slashes, or tabs. │
│ │
│ Summary of options: * = invalid if used with [N] │
│ Bn blank: 0=graphics, 1=always Pn save <n> video pages [1..8] │
│ Cn color sets: [1..5] Rn mirror: 0=none,1=horiz,2=vert,│
│ Dn delay: [0..255] 3=horiz+vert,4=diagonal │
│ E * use EMS Sn color speed: [1..255] │
│ Fn save <n> font blocks [0..8] U uninstall │
│ Kc hotkey Vn video: 0=ignore, 1=monitor │
│ Ln lines: [1..50] Wn wait <n> minutes [1..30] │
│ Mn mouse: 0=ignore, 1=monitor Zc COM ports to monitor │
│ N send options to resident copy - turn off │
│ On fadeout: 0=don't, 1=fade + turn on │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
When installing VGAMoire, you can specify any of these
parameters to customize how VGAMoire behaves. Each will be
discussed separately, along with some tips and tricks on
combining certain options (any of the options may be used with
any of the other options, except as noted).
To use an option, specify it on the command line. Be sure to
put a space between different options, and do NOT put a space
between an option letter and the value you are setting it to. Do
not type the brackets that are used in the documentation. They
are only used to easily distinguish options from other text.
Correct: VGAMOIRE C1 M1
Wrong: VGAMOIRE C1M1
Wrong: VGAMOIRE C 1 M 1
─── THE OPTIONS ────────────────────────────────────────────────
[Bn] If VGAMoire times out while the display is in a graphics
mode, VGAMoire will just blank the screen and allow the
current application to continue processing. As soon as
any activity is detected, VGAMoire will restore the
screen. If you want VGAMoire to do this with text
screens, too, instead of drawing the moire design, you
can use this option. Example:
VGAMOIRE B1
This tells VGAMoire to always blank the screen instead
of drawing the moire design. To allow VGAMoire to draw
the design again, use B0 instead of B1.
SPECIAL NOTE: If VGAMoire is installed with both the B1 and O0
options, it will only take the basic 3.9k of
conventional memory. If it is installed with B1 but not
with O0, then it will take 4.7k. This way, you can
force it to be a real memory miser, in case you are
really low on memory or don't have EMS. It will not
allocate any memory --neither conventional nor EMS (not
even if the [E] option is used)-- for a save buffer, and
it will not be able to draw the moire design at all
unless it is deinstalled and reinstalled without the B1
option.
[Cn] VGAMoire has several different color sets it can use.
VGAMoire reprograms the VGA's color registers to produce
non-standard colors, thus giving truer, better, and more
colors than otherwise possible. Example:
VGAMOIRE C3
This would tell VGAMoire to use "frosty" colors to draw
the moire pattern. Below is a list of possible color
sets:
C1 - Rainbow
C2 - Fire
C3 - Frost
C4 - Pastel
C5 - Glowing red
[Dn] VGAMoire is a very fast program because it uses highly
optimized assembly language routines (the whole program
is written in assembly language) to directly access the
VGA hardware, instead of using ROM BIOS function calls
to do the job. On most computers that have VGA cards
(except maybe some slow ATs or XTs), you will want to
slow down the design. You can specify a delay value in
the range of 0 (fast) to 255 (very slow). Example:
VGAMOIRE D35
On 16MHz PS/2 Model 70's, a good delay value to use is
usually about 35 or 40, but of course it depends on your
taste.
[E] If you have EMS memory, you can tell VGAMoire to make
good use of it. Normally, VGAMoire takes at least 8.8k
of conventional memory, plus an extra 4k for every extra
video page it saves, adding as much as 28k to the basic
8.8k model (which saves only one video page). If you
choose to use your EMS memory, though, VGAMoire uses
only 3.8k of conventional memory, and uses EMS memory to
save the video pages and mouse state. VGAMoire is
compatible with EMS 3.1 and higher (it even names its
EMS handle under EMS 4.0 and higher). EMS memory is
allocated in 16k blocks. VGAMoire allocates one block
to save up to 3 video pages, or two blocks to save up to
7 video pages, or three blocks to save 8 video pages.
Example:
VGAMOIRE E
Note that the [E] option cannot be used with the [N]
option (which will be explained later). It can, however
be used in conjunction with the [Fn] option, which is
explained next. Also note that VGAMoire reserves the
total amount of EMS that it will use AT THE TIME IT IS
INSTALLED. To stop using EMS or to change the number of
video pages it saves, you must deinstall VGAMoire and
then reinstall it.
[Fn] This option tells VGAMoire to save and restore the VGA
character generator RAM and the complete video state.
You can specify how many font blocks to save and restore
(from 0 to 8). If you need this feature at all, saving
just one font block will generally be enough. It is
only valid when used with the [E] option, so you can't
use it if you don't have EMS memory. Example:
VGAMOIRE F1
Using this feature allows VGAMoire to correctly save and
restore even such non-standard video modes as 60-line
displays or 33-line displays. Otherwise, VGAMoire can
save all the information except the current character
fonts and the screen size (changing the screen size
requires loading an alternate font, so the two are
really inseparable). Note that when you use this
feature, VGAMoire uses an added 16k of EMS per every two
character generator RAM blocks you save. So, if you
want to save all 8 video pages and all the character
generator RAM, you will need at least 112k of free EMS
memory. You can save up to 8 of the character generator
RAM blocks, but you should rarely, if ever, need to save
more than one.
You can change the number of font blocks to save by
using the [Fn] option with the [N] option.
[Kc] This option allows you to set your own hotkey to pop up
the screen saver. You can use any combination of the
Alt/Ctrl/Shift keys and one "normal" key. You can set
it to distinguish between the left and right Shift keys,
or you can have it treat them the same.
The syntax of this option is very simple. First, of
course, comes the "K". After the "K", just type the
names of the keys you want to use, surrounding each
key's name with squigly brackets ("{}"). Examples:
1) VGAMOIRE K{CTRL}{RIGHTSHIFT}{S}
This instructs VGAMoire to use Ctrl-RightShift-S
as the hotkey.
2) VGAMOIRE K{ALT}{SHIFT}
This tells VGAMoire to use the Alt key and
either of the two Shift keys as the hotkey.
3) VGAMOIRE K{CTRL}{F12}
This sets Ctrl-F12 as the hotkey.
It is also possible to completely disable the hotkey:
VGAMOIRE K
This disables the hotkey, so that it is impossible to
manually pop up the screen saver. To reenable the
hotkey, just select a different hotkey.
──── LIST OF VALID KEYS ────────────────────────────────
{ALT} - the Alt key
{CTRL} - the Ctrl key
{LEFTSHIFT} - the left Shift key
{RIGHTSHIFT} - the right Shift key
{SHIFT} - either Shift key
──── LIST OF VALID "NORMAL" KEYS ───────────────────────
{A}..{Z} - the letter keys
{F1}..{F12} - the function keys
{0}..{9} - number keys (NOT the numeric keypad!)
NOTE: if you forget what the current hotkey is, just
type "VGAMOIRE ?" at the DOS prompt, and if VGAMoire has
been installed yet, it will tell you what the current
hotkey is.
[Ln] You can make the moire pattern have up to 50 lines in
it. The default is 25 lines. Example:
VGAMOIRE L40
This would make VGAMoire generate a 40 line moire
pattern. You must tell VGAMoire to use at least one
line (any less wouldn't really make much sense, now
would it?).
[Mn] If you are experiencing trouble and either do not have a
mouse, or have an old mouse driver, try using this
feature before giving up. This determines whether or
not VGAMoire monitor the mouse hardware for activity (by
default, VGAMoire will constantly monitor the mouse for
any activity and restart the countdown if it detects
any). Example:
VGAMOIRE M0
This tells VGAMoire to ignore any mouse activity
(VGAMoire simply doesn't bother to monitor the mouse at
all). To tell VGAMoire to resume monitoring the mouse,
you can use M1 instead of M0.
[On] VGAMoire can make the screen fade to black before
drawing the design (or when blanking the screen). The
current application can even continue processing while
the screen is fading out. You can configure it not to,
though, if you wish. Example:
VGAMOIRE O0
This tells VGAMoire not to make the screen fade out.
You can tell VGAMoire to re-enable screen fading by
using the O1 option (the default setting). Note that if
VGAMoire detects any activity while it is dimming the
screen, it will restore the palette and will not blank
the screen or draw the design.
[Pn] The VGA card has 8 video text pages, although DOS and
most of the IBM programs only use page 0 (some programs
draw screens on other pages and then transfer them to
page 0 to make it seem as though they are drawing the
display at lightning speeds. You can use the [Pn]
option to indicate how many video pages you wish to
save. VGAMoire saves however many pages you tell it to,
starting with page zero (the pages are numbered 0
through 7). If you use the 50-line mode ever, you
should probably save at least 2 pages. Example:
VGAMOIRE P2
This tells VGAMoire to save 2 video pages when it
switches to graphics mode to draw the moire pattern.
This option can be used with the [N] option if you are
using Expanded Memory (see the [E] option). Otherwise,
to change the number of video pages that are saved, you
must deinstall VGAMoire and then reinstall it. NOTE: if
you use the NNANSI.SYS display driver (or certain other
"improved ANSI display drivers"), you should be aware
that it can scroll the screen at a very high speed by
modifying the starting location of the screen display
buffer. If you use this feature of your display driver,
you should either tell VGAMoire to save all 8 video
pages or tell your display driver to scroll text the
"old-fashioned way".
NOTE: if you use a program that allows more than 25
lines on the screen, you should save at least two video
pages, and if you use a program which allows more than
50 lines, you need to save at least 3 video pages.
[Rn] This controls how VGAMoire mirrors the pattern. By
default, VGAMoire doesn't mirror it at all. You can
instruct the screen saver to mirror the design
horizontally, vertically, both horizontally and
vertically together, or diagonally. Example:
VGAMOIRE R2
This would cause VGAMoire to mirror the pattern
vertically (top-to-bottom). Use [R0] to not mirror at
all, [R1] to mirror horizontally, [R2] to mirror
vertically, [R3] to mirror both horizontally and
vertically together, or [R4] to mirror diagonally.
[Sn] By default, VGAMoire changes colors each time it draws a
new line. If you're using a large number of lines, or
if the colors are changing more quickly than you'd like,
you can make them change slower. Example:
VGAMOIRE S3
This would make VGAMoire change colors after every third
line. You can use any number in the range 1 to 255. If
you were using only 5 lines, and you wanted it to look
like the pattern were slowly glowing, you might use a
value of 10 or 12 with the [Sn] option.
[U] This lets you deinstall VGAMoire. Please see the
section "Deinstallation" for more information.
[Vn] Some programs which use the video BIOS to write to the
screen may confuse VGAMoire into never timing out. If
this happens, you can try this option to force VGAMoire
to ignore video activity. Example:
VGAMOIRE V0
This tells VGAMoire to ignore any video activity. To
make VGAMoire resume watching for video activity, use V1
instead of V0.
[Wn] As I demonstrated in the "Installation" section, you can
specify a number of minutes to count down (Wait) before
popping up the moire pattern. VGAMoire can count down
anywhere from 1 to 30 minutes. Example:
VGAMOIRE W4
This instructs the screen saver to count down four
minutes before taking over and drawing the moire
pattern. Remember: if you do not specify a number of
minutes to count down (it must be a valid value to be
recognized), VGAMoire will not become resident but will
display its pattern until you press a key or move the
mouse.
| [Zc] You can tell VGAMoire which COM ports to monitor by
| using the [Zc] option. To turn off COM port monitoring,
| use Z0:
|
| VGAMOIRE Z0
|
| To specify a port(s) to monitor, give the port numbers:
|
| VGAMOIRE Z12
|
| This would monitor COM1 and COM2 for activity. If you
| want to turn of monitoring for a specific port, put a
| minus sign before its number:
|
| VGAMOIRE Z-1
|
| This would turn off monitoring for COM1, but would not
| affect monitoring for other COM ports.
[N] Once VGAMoire is resident, you cannot switch back and
forth between using EMS memory or conventional memory
(the [E] option). To switch, you must deinstall and
then reinstall VGAMoire. However, any of the other
options may be changed even once VGAMoire is resident.
To change them, just use the [N] option somewhere on the
command line. Example:
VGAMOIRE W2 N D30
This changes the number of minutes that VGAMoire counts
down before popping up to 2 minutes, and changes the
delay value to 30. No other options are changed.
[-] VGAMoire can be disabled from DOS with the [-] option.
This allows batch files to turn off VGAMoire and then
later turn it back on. Examples:
1) VGAMOIRE - N
This turns the RESIDENT COPY of VGAMoire off
(because the [N] option is used along with the
[-] option).
2) VGAMOIRE - W4
This would install VGAMoire and set the
countdown at four minutes, but would also turn
VGAMoire off as it was being installed. For
VGAMoire to be able to pop up, it would have to
be later turned on, which we will discuss next.
[+] To turn VGAMoire back on, use this command:
VGAMOIRE + N
This turns the RESIDENT COPY of VGAMoire on (because the
[N] option is used with the [+] option). Using the [+]
makes no sense unless the [N] option is used also,
because VGAMoire defaults to being "on". You don't need
to do anything to install VGAMoire as "on".
NOTE: the [-] and [+] options maintain a counter, so
they may successfully be nested within batch files.
═══════ DEINSTALLATION ═════════════════════════════════════════
VGAMoire can deinstall itself and give both conventional and EMS
memory it was using back to DOS. Example:
VGAMOIRE U
The [U] option, just like any of the other options, can be used
from the DOS prompt or from in a batch file. If another program
has taken over the interrupt vectors that VGAMoire captured,
then VGAMoire will tell you and ask if you really want to
deinstall it. You can press 'N', 'Y', or ESC. If you hit 'N' or
ESC, VGAMoire will print a message saying that it is still
installed. If you choose to deinstall it anyway, VGAMoire will
try to deinstall itself. This may result in a system crash,
depending on what is loaded above VGAMoire. You can allow
VGAMoire to deinstall itself cleanly by deinstalling whatever is
in memory above it first. If the system does crash, just reboot
(or turn the computer off). Note that the system may not crash
immediately.
═══════ EXAMPLES ═══════════════════════════════════════════════
Here are some examples for installing VGAMoire:
VGAMOIRE W4 P8 E F8 D40 S3 C1 L50 R3
This tells VGAMoire to become resident and count down four
minutes before popping up. It will save all eight video pages
in EMS memory, and will also save all eight character generator
RAM blocks. The delay to slow down the moire pattern is set to
40 (the delay value is not an absolute measure of time, but
rather is relative to CPU speed). VGAMoire will change color
every three lines, use rainbow colors, and will draw a moire
pattern consisting of 50 lines. Finally, it will mirror both
horizontally and vertically. This could be called the "full
featured" installation, because it makes use of each of the
special VGAMoire options. It also uses the least conventional
memory (3.8k) and the most EMS memory (112k).
A less impressive configuration might be this:
VGAMOIRE W4 P2 S3 C1 L20 D50
This would again count down four minutes, but only save two
video pages. It would not use EMS memory, so it would take a
total of about 12.8k of conventional memory. It would change
color every third line, use rainbow colors, and only draw 20
lines in the moire pattern. It would use a delay value of 50
(again, the delay is arbitrarily relative to the CPU speed and
follows a roughly linear graph of speed decrease as the delay
value increases).
Following is a sample batch file to disable VGAMoire before
executing an application and then reenable it when the
application returns to DOS:
APP1.BAT
──────────────────────────────────────────────
@ECHO OFF
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N - >NUL
CD\[GAME_DIR]
[GAME]
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N + >NUL
As stated previously, some programs may trick VGAMoire into
never timing out (never finishing its countdown). Following is
a sample batch file that may solve the problem with programs
like these:
APP2.BAT
──────────────────────────────────────────────
@ECHO OFF
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N V0 >NUL
CD\[APP_DIR]
[APPLICATION
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N V1 >NUL
Following is a sample batch file to make VGAMoire just blank the
screen (instead of drawing the moire design) and allow the
program to continue operating in the background (the screen will
come back if any activity is detected--mouse, keyboard, disk,
serial communications (only through the BIOS), certain kinds of
video activity (anything through the BIOS), or parallel
communications (again, only through the BIOS)). The batch file
then executes an application. When the application is done,
VGAMoire is reset so that it will draw the moire design again:
APPBLANK.BAT
──────────────────────────────────────────────
@ECHO OFF
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N B0 >NUL
CD\[APP_DIR]
[APPLICATION]
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N B1 >NUL
═══════ KNOWN CONFLICTS ════════════════════════════════════════
─── TELECOMMUNICATIONS ─────────────────────────────────────────
VGAMoire is unfortunately unable to monitor serial
communications if they are not handled by the BIOS. Many
commercial telecommunication programs (such as ProComm PLUS)
directly communicate with the hardware, and VGAMoire cannot
detect this type of activity. In addition, VGAMoire does not
currently detect if the phone rings while the moire pattern is
being drawn. We intend to include this feature in the next
release, although there is some doubt as to whether it is
feasible or even possible. In the meantime, use this sample
batch file (TELECOMM.BAT) to run your telecommunication program,
so that VGAMoire will not pop up on its own, but if you manually
pop it up, it will just blank the screen and allow your terminal
to continue running in the background and answer any incoming
phone calls:
TELECOMM.BAT
──────────────────────────────────────────────
@ECHO OFF
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N B0 - >NUL
CD\[TELECOMM_DIR]
[TELECOMM_PROGRAM]
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N B1 + >NUL
─── DOS 4.0 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
To use VGAMoire with the DOSSHELL menu program, you will have to
do one of two things. If your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file
loads a mouse driver into memory, then you can edit the
DOSSHELL.BAT file and make VGAMoire work with it perfectly
(instructions are given below). If you do not load a mouse
driver into memory, but still want to use the mouse in DOSSHELL,
then you have no choice but to configure VGAMoire not to monitor
the mouse, otherwise DOSSHELL will have severe trouble
responding when you press the mouse button. Aside from this,
VGAMoire is fully compatible with DOS 4.0.
If you load a mouse driver into memory before using DOSSHELL,
then you can simply edit one line in your DOSSHELL.BAT file to
let DOSSHELL know this. By default, DOSSHELL uses its own mouse
driver, which is incompatible with the software standard for
mouse drivers (I don't understand why Microsoft/IBM did it this
way--it seems pretty stupid, to me). What you need to do is use
a file editor (eg: QEdit, EMacs, VEDIT, or even EDLIN) to modify
the line that begins with "@SHELLC" (it will probably be a very
long line). Find where it says "/MOS:xxxxxxxx.DRV" and just
remove that part of the line (the xxxxxxxx's may vary depending
on your system). This tells DOSSHELL that you have your own
mouse driver installed, and that it should make use of it.
For example, this is the DOSSHELL.BAT file that the DOS 4.0
installation program created for me on my IBM PS/2 Model 70:
@SHELLB DOSSHELL
@IF ERRORLEVEL 255 GOTO END
:COMMON
@BREAK=OFF
@SHELLC /MOS:PCIBMDRV.MOS/TRAN/COLOR/DOS/MENU/MUL/SND...
.../MEU:SHELL.MEU/CLR:SHELL.CLR/PROMPT/MAINT...
.../EXIT/SWAP/DATE
:END
@BREAK=ON
To make VGAMoire work with DOSSHELL, I deleted the part that
said "/MOS:PCIBMDRV.MOS" so that it looked like this:
@SHELLB DOSSHELL
@IF ERRORLEVEL 255 GOTO END
:COMMON
@BREAK=OFF
@SHELLC /TRAN/COLOR/DOS/MENU/MUL/SND/MEU:SHELL.MEU...
.../CLR:SHELL.CLR/PROMPT/MAINT/EXIT/SWAP/DATE
:END
@BREAK=ON
─── GAMES ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Many commercial games are not "well-behaved" programs, in that
they take over certain parts of the operating system and just
don't respect other programs. With some games, VGAMoire might
work perfectly, but with most it won't. Usually, if the screen
blanks while you are playing a game, you can try either hitting
one of the Shift keys or moving the mouse. If this does not
restore the screen, you may have to reboot.
For games that VGAMoire doesn't get along well with, you should
disable VGAMoire before starting the game (see the "APP1.BAT"
example in the "Examples" section).
─── MICE ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
VGAMoire is only mouse-sensitive with Microsoft-compatible mice;
it cannot recognize Mouse Systems mice unless they are in
Microsoft emulation mode (Logitech and most other popular mice
should work fine--if the mouse has a Microsoft emulation mode,
make sure you are using it, though).
─── MICROSOFT WORD ─────────────────────────────────────────────
A bug in previous versions of VGAMoire prevented it from working
with Microsoft Word. This bug has been fixed, and VGAMoire
works correctly with Microsoft Word.
However, you must configure VGAMoire to ignore BIOS video
activity while Word is running. Use this batch file to run
Microsoft Word:
WORD.BAT
──────────────────────────────────────────────
@ECHO OFF
C:
CD \WORD
C:\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N V0 >NUL
IF "%1"=="" GOTO PLAIN
WORD %1
GOTO END
:PLAIN
WORD
:END
C:\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N V1 >NUL
─── SUPER-VGA ADAPTERS ─────────────────────────────────────────
Some SuperVGA video adapters do not support the screen blanking
which VGAMoire is capable of. This problem is known to occur
with Tseng Labs 4000-based cards, although the official Tseng
Labs techinical reference guide indicates that the video board
should be able to blank the screen... If VGAMoire has trouble
blanking the display, chances are that you have a video card
which is NOT 100% IBM compatible, even if your dealer or the
card's documentation says otherwise. If this problem occurs
with your video card, please write me and tell me exactly which
brand and model your VGA card is, and also which chipset it
uses. If there is a great enough response, I will make VGAMoire
support those video cards as best they allow.
VGAMoire uses the video BIOS to blank the screen, but there are
also two different hardware-dependent ways to acheive the same
result. The problem with using one of these methods is that
some cards support one, some support the other, and some don't
support either, and some support both.
─── MULTITASKING SYSTEMS ───────────────────────────────────────
(such as DESQview, TopView, VM/386)
Multitasking is hard to accomplish, and some multitasking
systems will be able to run VGAMoire while others will not. If
your system is not described below, you will have to determine
if VGAMoire can be run and, if so, how it must be configured.
DESQview - VGAMoire is compatible with DESQview. However, you
must set it to always do screen blanking and to
ignore the mouse, which you do by using the B0 and
M0 options (take a look at the "APPBLANK.BAT" batch
file in the "Examples" section).
TopView - We have not had the opportunity to test VGAMoire
with TopView, but we believe it will behave under
TopView the same way as under DESQview. On that
assumption, you should follow the directions for
DESQview (outlined above) for TopView, DESQview,
and any other similar multitasking software.
VM/386 - VM/386 works on a different principle than most
other multitasking systems. VGAMoire works
perfectly with VM/386, but you must install
VGAMoire in each virtual machine that you want a
screen saver to be active in. So, if you have four
VMs running, you will need to install VGAMoire in
each of the four VMs. You should NOT install
VGAMoire before starting VM/386; install it in the
VMs, not in the VM Manager! (This holds true for
any TSR program with VM/386).
─── PRINT SPOOLERS ─────────────────────────────────────────────
(or some programs taking a long time to print)
You may experience problems with VGAMoire when using a print
spooler (such as DMP or DOS PRINT). VGAMoire may take over
while the spooler is sending data to the printer (depending on
how it sends the data). The spooler should resume without any
complications as soon as VGAMoire returns control to the current
program (if you experience problems, be sure to let me know, so
I can work on fixing them!). If you want your spooler to be
able to print data even once VGAMoire decides to activate
itself, then you must use the [B1] option (see the description
of the [Bn] option for more information). Otherwise, printing
will resume when VGAMoire is done drawing its moire pattern.
═══════ SPECIAL NOTES FOR MICROSOFT WINDOWS ════════════════════
VGAMoire was not intended to work in Microsoft Windows, and it
doesn't. Miscrosoft Windows fools VGAMoire and feeds it false
information. The result is that VGAMoire may try to pop up
while Windows is active, which causes the display to go haywire
(VERY) and you have to reboot the machine (actually, Windows is
still operating, and if you're adventurous or you know what to
do, you can save anything you were working on and exit Windows,
which will then right the display).
However, if you want to use Windows while VGAMoire is loaded
(though you can't use VGAMoire while Windows is active), you can
do this--quite easily, in fact. The example batch file shown
below demonstrates how to start Windows 3.0 from a batch file
and disable VGAMoire while Windows is active and then reenable
it when Windows is exitted. Even if VGAMoire isn't loaded, the
batch file will still work exactly the same and won't
accidentally load VGAMoire.
WIN.BAT
──────────────────────────────────────────────
@ECHO OFF
CD\WINDOWS
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N - >NUL
WIN
\TOOLS\VGAMOIRE N + >NUL
To use Windows, you would type WIN from the DOS prompt. This
will deactivate the resident copy of VGAMoire (but won't display
an ugly error message if VGAMoire isn't loaded, because the
output is redirected to NUL). Then it runs Windows. When the
user exits from Windows, the batch file turns VGAMoire back on,
if it is loaded (but again, will not display an error message if
it isn't).
═══════ TROUBLESHOOTING ════════════════════════════════════════
When VGAMoire doesn't seem to work with an application you have,
here are some things you can try before you give up:
If the application seems to work fine, but you just can't get
VGAMoire to pop up, then there are two things you can try before
you simply disable VGAMoire. First, try setting VGAMoire to
ignore video activity, by using the V0 option. If that doesn't
help, try telling VGAMoire to ignore the mouse, by using the M0
option. If that doesn't work, then chances are that VGAMoire
will not work with that application.
If VGAMoire seems to be interfering with the application, or
causes the computer to crash, then you can try the above
procedure, but it may not help. What you might try is setting
VGAMoire to only blank the screen, and not to draw the moire
design. Do this by using the B1 option. If none of these
things helps, you will have to turn VGAMoire off (see the
"APP1.BAT" sample batch file in the "Examples" section).
═══════ VERSION HISTORY SUMMARY ════════════════════════════════
─── v1.0 ─────────────────────────────────────────── 7/14/90 ───
* Original version.
─── v1.1 ──────────────────────────────────────────── 8/2/90 ───
* Deallocates the environment block to conserve memory.
* Support added to save/restore RAM fonts (w/EMS only).
* Mirroring feature added.
* Improved mouse sensitivity.
>>> Possible bug if no mouse driver was installed--fixed.
>>> Bug where keyboard locked up if no EMS memory
used--fixed.
* Only keeps one color set resident--saves memory.
* Frost colors added.
─── v1.2 ──────────────────────────────────────────── 8/7/90 ───
* Blanks the screen while changing modes, to avoid ugly
screen flicker.
* Now makes sure color register 0 (black) is really set
to black.
>>> Bug in restoring fonts made us never restore
fonts--fixed.
─── v1.3 ─────────────────────────────────────────── 8/13/90 ───
>>> The [N] option got broken in v1.2--now fixed.
─── v1.4 ──────────────────────────────────────────── 9/4/90 ───
* Better mouse state save/restore.
* Better sensitivity to keyboard and mouse.
* Graphics mode blanking added.
─── v1.4b ────────────────────────────────────────── 9/21/90 ───
* Source code reorganized so I can try adding support
for other video cards (no guarantees...).
* Improved video state save/restore.
>>> EMS-related bug fixed.
─── v1.5 ──────────────────────────────────────────── 1/3/91 ───
* Increased stability due to improved interrupt
monitoring and stack context switching.
* Now DESQview compatible!
* [-] and [+] options now maintain a counter.
* The popup hotkey works even if VGAMoire is
turned off.
* Glowing red colors added.
* Can make the screen fade to black.
* Can deallocate itself even from High RAM.
* Now has diagonal mirroring feature.
* Can select a custom hotkey.
* The parameters have been slightly changed.
* No longer beeps if it can't pop up (beeping could
cause a system crash under certain conditions).
>>> Using our own stack fixed some "mysterious" crash
bugs.
>>> Screen blanking bug fixed (sometimes crashed after
restoring the screen).
>>> [Mn] option was reversed, now works right.
─── v1.6i ────────────────────────────────────────── 4/18/91 ───
* Telecommunications support added:
o Monitors Carrier signal on given COM ports.
o If CD is present, only blanks screen.
o If CD is present, ignores disk and video
activity.
* If VGAMoire is off hotkey is hit, only blanks the
screen.
* Border color flashes when phone rings (if a modem is
connected).
* The moire pattern fades in, too.
>>> Bug fix: custom hotkeys only worked right if they
were limited to combinations of Ctrl, Alt, and the
Shift keys.
>>> Bug fix: fixed problem which could cause potential
DOS instability and eventual crash.
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
I hope you find VGAMoire useful. Thank you for your support.
Christopher Antos
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
